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Monday, June 21, 2010

In defense of my coordinates for the attack on Emma Smith

Because there is such a campaign of disinformation surrounding the Ripper case, and because few truthful people seem to recognize the significance of the precise locations of the sites where the Ripper's victims were found or attacked, it has been difficult to identify the precise locations in many cases, and I've found fewer references to the precise site of the attack on Emma Smith than to any other site. Most sources refer to "the corner," but one source mentions that Smith pointed out the site as they passed the cocoa/mustard factory/mill which was on the corner of Wentworth Street and Brick Lane (which becomes Osborn to the south of Wentworth), without mentioning a corner. It also seems to me that the attack wouldn't have occurred on a corner, because of the greater risk of being seen. This is why I have settled on the location shown in a map on Wikipedia's Whitechapel murders page. (If it fits into some pattern better than if it were on the NW corner, or on the SW corner as claimed by the Guilford Ghost, so be it. I'm not going to select locations to support some theory, and it looks as if some of my theories are going to bite the dust as a result of my realization that the Ghost's locations are inaccurate, and I suspect deliberately so because his videos indicate an awareness of the importance of knowing the precise locations.) In part, the map's caption reads "Map of the Spitalfields rookery showing the streets where the victims were resident. Emma Elizabeth Smith, 45, was attacked NEAR the junction of Osborn Street and Brick Lane (red circle)." [emphasis added - also note that the intersection is identified by the transition of Osborn to Brick Lane, which occurs at their intersection with Wentworth. (Wentworth also changes to Old Montague at this intersection.)] If the source of this information believed that it occurred on the corner, the caption would have stated so, and this is more consistent with the statement that Smith pointed out the location (to those taking her to the hospital, or as they say on BBC, "to hospital") AS THEY PASSED THE FACTORY. If it had occurred on the corner, the spot indicated by Smith would have been identified as "the corner."

Mary Russell, (The first witness), the deputy-keeper of a lodging-house in George-street, Spitalfields, deposed to the statement made by the deceased on the way to the London hospital, to which she was taken between four and five o’clock on Tuesday morning [3 Apr]. The deceased told her she had been shockingly maltreated by a number of men and robbed of all the money she had. Her face was bleeding, and her ear was cut. She did not describe the men, but said one was a young man of about 19. SHE ALSO POINTED OUT WHERE THE OUTRAGE OCCURRED, AS THEY PASSED THE SPOT, WHICH WAS NEAR THE COCOA FACTORY (TAYLOR’S) [cocoa and mustard mill]. [emphasis added]

This would mean that the attack took place on Brick Lane proper, not Osborn. Wikipedia's source for the location shown in the map was evidently The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook.